Premiere: Chorusgirl – ‘Demon Baby’

Following 2015’s wonderful self-titled debut, GIHE faves Chorusgirl have now announced their long-awaited new album Shimmer And Spin, and we couldn’t be happier for them. Chronicling a tense year, created during a period of crippling anxiety and a relentless string of bad luck and bad news, the new album is the result of immense hard work and dedication from Silvi, Faith, Udo and Michael.

Taken from the album, the band have now shared brand new track ‘Demon Baby’. Inspired by those all too common feelings of anxiety and isolation, it’s the first song of the band’s to be released featuring Faith Taylor on lead vocals. As a massive fan of her other band Suggested Friends, it’s wonderful to hear Taylor’s distinctive, rich vocals shine through on this one, propelled by Chorusgirl’s trademark shimmering sounds.

A slight change in tone from the usually guitar-driven jangly indie of Chorusgirl, ‘Demon Baby’ combines that welcome scuzzy whirr of hooks with a backdrop of a glitchy, electronic soundscape, filled with sparkling effects and luscious cascading harmonies. As Taylor’s exquisite vocals float effortlessly along with a raw emotion, you could almost be transported to the soundtrack of an ’80s teen drama (which is never a bad thing!); though, alongside those fuzzy nostalgic vibes, it manages to retain Chorusgirl’s unique sense of dreamy, effervescent melancholy. A beautifully stirring and reflective offering, ‘Demon Baby’ still ultimately manages to uplift the spirit with the soaring, glistening haze that this band are consistently able to create.

Of the track, the band explain:

“It is about pathologising your own unhappiness when you lack genuine emotional support in your life. The song talks about running away, reinventing yourself, and policing your sense of discontent and isolation because you don’t think you deserve more.”

Listen to ‘Demon Baby’, for the first time here:

 

Shimmer And Spin, the new album from Chorusgirl, is out 16th November via Reckless Yes. Catch Chorusgirl live at their album launch show tonight (9th November) at The Victoria, and at the following dates:

16th November: Nottingham, Rough Trade
17th November: Sheffield, Audacious Art Experiment
18th November: Newcastle, Head of Steam
19th November: Glasgow, Broadcast
21st November: Oxford, Common Ground
22nd November: Bristol, Hydra Cafe
23rd November: Coventry, The Tin
11th January 2019: London, The Finsbury (for Get In Her Ears!)

Mari Lane
@marimindles

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Women In Film at Doc ‘N’ Roll Film Festival 2018

Having been going since last Thursday, this year’s Doc ‘N’ Roll Film Festival is running an exciting line-up of music documentaries running at various cinemas across London over the next couple of weeks. As if that didn’t sound exciting enough, this year in particular is showcasing the contribution of women to both the film and music industries, with a wide variety of talents both in front of and behind the camera being celebrated.

One of the films being showcased is the story of poet and electro pioneer Anne Clark, I’ll Walk Out Into Tomorrow. Anne Clark turned punk’s creative heat into eloquently cool soundscapes, whose influence, three decades on, is still felt among musicians in Europe and beyond. Via her groundbreaking use of samples and analogue synthesizers in tracks such as ‘Sleeper in Metropolis’ and ‘Our Darkness’, the Croydon-born artist would become a forerunner of the techno generation. This intimate portrait of a famously reticent figure attests to the patience and keen eye of filmmaker Claus Withopf, whose camera accompanied Clark for nearly a decade. Along with compelling live footage dating from the 1980s to the present day, I’ll Walk Out Into Tomorrow focuses on Clark’s recollections of her school days, London’s punk scene, the music industry’s manipulations and deceits, the wilfulness of the human heart, and her enduring love affair with the creative process in all its doubts, detours and discoveries. I’ll Walk Out Into Tomorrow will have its UK premiere at The Barbican Centre at 3.30pm on Saturday 10th November. 

Also screening will be the story of Sweden’s most outspoken Feminist LGBTQ rapper Silvana Imam, Silvana. Silvana is screening on Saturday 10th November at 6pm at Curzon Soho. 

Another film we’re particularly excited about, Stories From She Punks tells the story of women who wrote songs and played instruments in bands in the ’70s, and is made by Helen Reddington of The Chefs and Gina Birch of The Raincoats. The world premiere of Stories From She Punks is screening on Saturday 10th November at 7pm at Genesis Cinema. 


Lesley Woods, from the film Stories From She Punks.

And perhaps the most poignant of the festival’s offerings, So, Which Band Is Your Boyfriend In? explores gender in the DIY punk scene. So, Which Band Is Your Boyfriend In? sees its London premiere on Saturday 17th November at 6.30pm at Genesis Cinema. 


Marcia of The Skints, from the film So, Which Band Is Your Boyfriend In?

Of the festival, founder Colm Forde explains:

“Our 5th London edition is the culmination of five years of relentless DIY spirit – blood sweat and tears from ourselves and a passionate volunteer group of independent film and music fanatics. Along the way, we’ve grown an ever expanding young audience of underserved fans across the UK, while inspiring many flattering imitators and upsetting the industry dinosaurs! Our programme of 28 premiere films includes 16 first-time directors who champion the power of music and film as universal languages of hope and inclusion.”

All info and a full listing of films on offer at Doc ‘N’ Roll Film Festival found here.

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Introducing Interview: Chinah

Fresh off the back of their latest single ‘Real Thing?’, we caught up with Copenhagen based Chinah in the run up to their London show at Bermondsey Social Club on 13th November.

Hi Chinah, welcome to Get In Her Ears! We’re loving your latest single ‘Real Thing?’, which we’ve played on the radio show, can you tell us a bit more about this song?
‘Real Thing?’ is a song about choosing to be lazy with your integrity because you long for intensity, and explores the feeling of experiencing a sense of “dominance within the submission”.

Your newer music has a much more evocative feel to it, each song creating its own individual atmosphere, with an almost hypnotic element… Is that something that you are consciously trying to create?
We try to make each song unique whilst still having something in its essence in common with the other songs on the album. The philosophy perhaps. But for everything beyond that, we like to allow ourselves to experiment and try different things out. We’re having fun with it. So yeah, the shifting moods and the different mixes of genres on the album are sort of an expected result of us staying curious and insisting on not limiting ourselves in terms of genre.

Previously you’ve spoken about seeing music in terms of contrast and dynamics, which is a refreshingly realistic way to describe the artist and the listener’s interaction with music, rather than by the constraints of labels. Could you expand on that a bit?
This last year we’ve been experimenting a lot with mixing genres, both within the length of a song and on the album as a whole. Likewise, we knew from the start of working with Anyone, the album, that we wanted it to be somewhat unpredictable. We prefer not placing ourselves into just one genre that has too narrow of a ruleset. In a sense, not defining our music too precisely prevents us from constraining our creativity, in that we might not try to “live up” to a made-up idea of what our music is or isn’t.

You’re about to embark on a tour of Denmark, but before you do you’re going to be stopping over here first at the Bermondsey Social Club on 13th November! Are you looking forward to playing London again?
Definitely! It’s been a year since we played in London, so coming back now with new music feels just right. We’ve played in London a few times before, and we always felt a very supportive atmosphere at our concerts and beyond. Hopefully the Londoners will dig the new music as well

Anyone, the upcoming album from Chinah, is out this Friday 9th November. Vinyl pre-order here. And you can check out Chinah live at Bermondsey Social Club on 13th November – tix available on DICE.

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The Tuts and Dream Nails to play Solidarity Not Silence Benefit Show

If you’re not familiar with The Solidarity Not Silence case, it’s an ongoing case in which a group of women are defending themselves against a defamation claim made by an abusive, unnamed well-known male musician (referred to as ‘A’) for statements that they made concerning his treatment of women.

The group includes one of A’s ex-girlfriends, one of several of his former partners who are facing a libel claim, and feminist musicians who spoke out in support of these women. Legal papers have been served against all of them. By coming together as a group, they have managed to personally fund their legal defence through the various stages up until the claim was finally served against them in court on 2nd August 2017. Not only has this lengthy process been very expensive, there has also been tremendous emotional and psychological impact. Most of the women have suffered severely with their mental health as a result, but they refuse to give up.

To raise money for their cause, a big benefit show is being held on 5th December at Oslo, Hackney. With live music from GIHE faves The Tuts and Dream Nails, there will also be DJ sets from GIRLI and Dream Wife‘s Alice Go and Bella Pod. A night of fantastic music, and all for an extremely worthy cause.

Tickets for the Solidarity Not Silence Benefit Gig are £12 and can be found here.

Find out more information about the campaign, and what you can do to help, here.

 

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